Truthfully, the ones that talk learn to talk the same way that we do, they listen to us when we talk and start to copy our sounds. This is particularly cool as unlike us they have no vocal cords, they change the shape of their airways to replicate speech. Also it is usually only the males of this species that choose to talk.

I had a female who talked but that was 5-7 years later, long after I gave up trying to teach her to talk. She bonded to my cockatiel who talked and my favorite part of the day was when she would be settling in for the night and be chattering away.

All I know is that they change the shape of their airways to talk as they don't have vocal cords like we do. I don't even know how they do that, but I imagine that some sounds must be very difficult to produce that way, especially without the help of lips.

I was astounded the first time Corsair made kissing sounds. I still don't understand how she does that without lips.

The people at the bird store told me it was likely that she would never talk because in their experience if birds are going to talk they have usually started by 4.5 months. (They have a mini-rescue on site for birds that people changed their minds about, so they try to warn you about what you are getting into.) It made me all the more proud of her when she started saying "Hello".

I am sorry everybody I totally forgot this thread existed lol. He is quite the talker now. He is very easy to understand and says "Hi Blu" "Pretty Bird" "Pretty Blu" "Good boy Blu" "I love you Blu" "Budgie Bird"(thats his favorite) "Goodnight " and many combinations of the words.